LAWRIE SANCHEZ: NORTHERN IRELAND’S UNLIKELY SAVIOUR

On 18th February 2004, Northern Ireland
became the holders of the most unwanted record in international football. It
had been a long time coming.

As the clock ticked over to 31 minutes in
Lawrie Sanchez’s first match in charge, a friendly in Belfast against Norway,
the home supporters began to chant "Championes, Championes." Their
side had just tipped over into enduring the longest goal drought in
international history. 1,273 minutes without appearing on the scoresheet. 28
months without a win. A world ranking of 124. This, surely, was the darkest
hour.

Taking over from former manager Sammy
McIlroy was no dream job. The former Man Utd man had presided over a truly
humiliating era, having resigned his position following a Euro 2004 qualifying
campaign in which Northern Ireland failed to score in eight matches.

The side he left behind were truly in the
mire. The last of McIlroy’s wins, a penalty sealing a 1-0 victory against
Malta, had come 28 months previously.

The man the IFA called upon to turn their
fortunes around had been sacked by third-tier Wycombe Wanderers the autumn
before and had been without a job for four months. Lawrie Sanchez was as
unlikely a messiah as you could find.

But as the cliché goes, the darkest hour
was just before the dawn. The goalless run would only extend to 1,298 minutes as
David Healy nodded home a Keith Gillespie cross on 56 minutes to score the
first goal by a Northern Irishman since the spot kick against Malta he had put
away himself. They might have been 3-0 down at the time, but it represented far
more than a consolation in a meaningless game. Norway ran out 4-1 winners, but
the hex was broken.

The sequence of events that would follow
was truly remarkable. A renaissance the likes of which Michelangelo would have
been proud.

It is said that when Sanchez was appointed
he set himself three targets - to score a goal, to win a match and to climb the
FIFA rankings. The first was achieved, the second would follow in the very next
game - Healy again scoring in a 1-0 win over Estonia - and the third would
surely follow.

And follow it did. Progress wasn't instant,
with a disappointing World Cup 2006 campaign yielding just two wins. One of
those, though, would be treasured for years to come - a 1-0 triumph over
England, the first victory over the old rivals since 1972. The sole name on the
scoresheet was, once again, David Healy.

That win, along with positive results
against Azerbaijan, Wales and Austria, propelled Northern Ireland to 72 in the
rankings ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Drawn in a group including
Spain, Sweden and Denmark fans feared the worst, with a humiliating 3-0 defeat
to Iceland at home in the first match compounding the pessimism.

The turnaround in the next few matches was
nothing short of astonishing, starting at home to European powerhouses Spain.

The Iberians rolled up to Windsor Park with
a side featuring, Xavi, Torres, Villa and Raul. Northern Ireland had Stephen
Craigan at centre half. When Xavi duly put the Spaniards 1-0 up after 14
minutes, defeat seemed a certainty. But David Healy, the titan of Northern
Irish football, had other ideas.

Capitalising on a Xabi Alonso error, Healy
equalised. A defensive mistake at the other end allowed David Villa to put
Spain 2-1 up, but Healy again levelled, finishing off a training ground free
kick routine. Then, on 80 minutes, something magical happened.

Goalkeeper Maik Taylor, himself on as a sub
for the injured Roy Carroll, spotted Healy's run and launched the perfect ball
over the top. With Michel Salgado beaten for pace, the diminutive striker let
it bounce once, twice before dinking the most delicate of first-touch lobs from
25 yards straight over Iker Casillas.

It was the most beautiful route one goal
Northern Ireland had ever seen.

The Green and White army won 3-2 on the
night, a country with the roughly the population of Barcelona beating the 7th
ranked team in the world. But they weren't done there.

The October international break saw them
pick up another four points, with a creditable draw away in Denmark followed by
a 1-0 home win against Latvia (you guessed it, David Healy with the goal). They
put four past Liechtenstein in March in a 4-1 away win - Healy with his second
hat-trick - before another amazing night in Belfast.

Sweden were next to Fortress Windsor, the
15th best team in the world boasting a 100% record in qualifying and featuring
the likes of Freddie Ljungberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, at the time in his
absolute pomp at Inter.

Again, the visitors went ahead, Johan
Elmander scoring with a sharp turn and shot. Again, David Healy came to the
rescue. Confidence dripping from his boots, he pounced on a mix-up between the
centre backs, swiveled on the spot and lashed an absolute gem of a dipping
volley into the top corner from the edge of the area. 1-1, and on the hour mark
he struck again, a deftly athletic touch to finish into the corner. The
Northern Irish were at the summit.

Top of their group and top of Europe, with
one of the most potent international strikers in world-beating form. It seemed
like nothing could stop them from reaching their first tournament since 1986.

Sometimes you can pinpoint an exact date
when things start to fall apart. April 10th 2007 is one of those instances.
Fulham, struggling four points above the Premier League drop zone, sacked
manager Chris Coleman and installed Lawrie Sanchez as caretaker manager.
Sanchez insisted he could perform both his new role and existing one with
Northern Ireland, but it was an arrangement doomed to failure from the start.

He officially departed from his position
with the national team on 11th May, admitting he was naive to think he could
manage at domestic and international level simultaneously. The side he left
were up to 33rd in the world, having sat 124th when he took over. They would
rise to 27 in August with another win against Liechtenstein, above the likes of
Norway, Bulgaria and, of course, The Republic of Ireland.

The last five games of qualifying, with new
manager Nigel Worthington, were crucial. Plenty of hard work had been done but a
little more was needed to seal passage into Euro 2008.

It is here where the terminal decline
began. Chris Baird's own goal gave Latvia a 1-0 win, followed by another own
goal from Keith Gillespie in stoppage time to hand Iceland a 2-1 victory.

An away draw with Sweden and a 2-1 win over
Denmark at Windsor Park left them needing to beat Spain away and hope Sweden
lost to Latvia at home. The Scandinavians scored in the first minute, Xavi
tucked one away in the second half and the best chance of qualifying for a
major tournament in a generation was lost. It was scant consolation that the
quite incredible David Healy finished as the top scorer in qualifying, with a
ridiculous 13 goals in 12 matches.

Since then, the fall has been as
catastrophic as the rise was meteoric. Healy scored just once in qualifying for
the 2010 World Cup as Northern Ireland finished fourth in a group where
Slovakia and Slovenia ended in the top 2.

2012 was worse, as they finished fifth of
six in their group; the only team below them was footballing whipping boys
Faroe Islands. Worthington resigned, relative rookie Michael O'Neill employed
to turn the tide.

And with two games left of 2014 World Cup
qualification, the dream of reaching another major tournament is over for
another two years.

As for Lawrie Sanchez, he was sacked by
Fulham within eight months, staying unemployed until Barnet picked up his
services in 2011. He was dismissed from the North London outfit on 16th April
2012, six and a half years after the greatest triumph in his managerial career.
He remains without a position.

The split between Sanchez and Northern
Ireland is all the more tragic given the downward turns both have taken since
parting ways. It seems that the perfect circumstances in 2006-07 gave the one
and a half million or so in Norn Iron the chance to dream of international
glory again, a hope not repeated since.

The trinity of Sanchez, Healy and Northern
Ireland flirted with greatness and danced around the history books. Who knows
what might have happened if Mohammed Al-Fayed hadn’t picked up the phone in
April 2007.

Jon Naylor is a freelance sports broadcaster and
journalist. You can find out more about him on his website.